- September 8, 2024
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St. Paul Lutheran Church is a place steeped in Sarasota history.
With its distinctive, signature rooflines curving toward a high point in the center, it is said the ceiling lights in the original sanctuary were so high, the Wallenda family of high-wire performers had to change them for the congregation, walking along the wires that hold the roof together.
“It's one of the stories anyway, that gets told through the generations here,” said the Rev. Ashley Nicolls, adding that some people knowledgeable about the church’s history consider the anecdote to be true.
One historical aspect of the church that can’t be disputed, however, is the architectural significance of two of its buildings, the work of architect Victor Lundy.
Designed by Lundy are the fellowship hall (the original sanctuary) built in 1959, as well as the education building created in 1962, the latter of which just saw completion of a renovation costing around $775,000.
As of July 1, the church is included in the National Register of Historic Places.
When the congregation was consulted on whether it wanted to undertake a project restoring the education building, which houses the church's preschool, the answer was a resounding yes, Nicolls said.
“We really said, do you guys just want a new building? And the teachers, the families, they said no, we love this building. This is part of who St. Paul is, it’s part of why we come and choose to come to (the Early Childhood Learning Center), and so I was shocked with that answer.”
Known for his use of modernist architecture, Lundy, now 101, is considered one of the leading members of the Sarasota School of Architecture.
He is behind sites such as the United States Tax Court Building in Washington, D.C., built in 1974, the inflatable snack bars at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and Sarasota’s distinctive Blue Pagoda building at The Bay Park which originally served as the headquarters of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce.
According to the church’s website, Lundy constructed the fellowship hall at a time when flat roofs were common, stating God could be found in the heights of the ceiling while the people were represented by its base.
The distinctiveness of his work, which results in the difficulty of repairs, has led to many Lundy buildings being demolished over time.
“We're the first people to take out Lundy beams and try to recreate it rather than just tearing it down, which a lot of Lundy’s buildings have had happen, so that was a bigger cost than they expected, a lot more time and a lot more specifics of how to do it,” Nicolls said.
Discussions on the project started in 2019.
The original bid was $400,000, but a matching grant from the state, which the church obtained with assistance from the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation, was not enough to cover the project when the bid rose to $665,000 and then carried an actual cost of about $775,000.
The specifics of restoring the beams had exceeded the expectations of the contractor, she said.
After the preschool was moved into the fellowship hall in March 2024, the work began.
Restoration work took place mainly across the exterior, and involved replicating the roof awnings and the architecture’s tongue and groove features, as well as the distinctively-shaped, curving Lundy beams.
The wood had been leaking during the rain, while additional posts added during a 1990s renovation were helping to support the building amid the decay of some beams.
Some distinctive glass side panels still remain to be restored.
“They've really struggled with it. They've broken pieces trying to get that exact arch,” Nicolls said.
Nonetheless, activity has been able to resume in the building.
The church still isn't finished with its mission, however.
Nicolls said members have rejected any notion of selling the property.
This despite that it offers more space than needed, with the sanctuary hosting about 100 people on a Sunday but having a capacity for 400, and with a cost of about $150,000 for upkeep, including volunteer services such as lawn mowing and contract work.
Meanwhile, she said, the preschool is aimed at providing the highest quality educators and does not serve as an income generator for the church.
She said she would love to obtain an endowment for an ongoing preservation plan, and hopes to see the buildings returned even closer to their original form.
The renovation of the education building in the 1990s had also partitioned it into classrooms and added AC ducts.
“It reminds us every single day when we look at these buildings, that God is here, God's in the midst,” she said. “So many times we can forget God is in our daily life. I hope when people just drive by Bahia Vista, past our church, they remember that, hey God's here, Jesus loves you. Whatever your faith is. If you're Jewish, God loves you, Muslim, doesn't matter, person of no faith – I hope they can find a way to find something bigger than themselves. We don’t have to worship in the same way. But this was created to remind us, God is bigger than us, and that’s what I love about this place.”
